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November 19, 2016

Pan Roasted Chicken and Vegetable Dinner

Raise your hand if you love a meal that doesn't dirty up multiple dishes, cooks on one or two pans, tastes good, and requires minimal clean up. Am I speaking your meal prep food language?

Cooking really doesn't have to be complicated, and pan roasted chicken and vegetable dinners are proof of this! Repeat after me, meal prep does not have to be complicated. Ok, now believe it.

I prepared part of this recipe while holding my phone and doing a Facebook Live video in one of my Challenge Groups. The most prep required for this meal is peeling and cutting the butternut squash. So instead of waiting until time to cook dinner, I went ahead and cubed the squash during my meal prep time on Sunday, one day before cooking this meal, and refrigerated in an airtight container. You could cube the squash at least 2 - 3 days in advance of cooking.

For the primary seasoning, I used Wildtree's organic and gluten free Rancher Steak Rub. The name is misleading. Rancher Rub is great on most all meats and some vegetables. This stuff is kinda like my version of salt & pepper.

There are a ton of pan roasted chicken and vegetable variations that you can create. Let this recipe be a guide to try it out and then make up your own combinations with your favorite seasonings and herbs. Depending on the quantity of vegetables you cook, this may require more than one pan.

*The most important piece of advice for this recipe is to use thin pieces of chicken.*

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Peel, deseed, and cut the butternut squash into small cubes
3. Chop off the bottoms of the asparagus spears.
4. Cut chicken breasts in half lengthwise to create 4-6 thin pieces of chicken
5. Line a large baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with oil
6. Place thin pieces of chicken in a bowl or storage bag, season 1 Tbsp Rancher Rub, 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp salt. Stir or shake to cover all pieces.
7. Place chicken in a single layer on the lined pan and sprinkle with the dried parsley over it for a subtle pop of color.
8. Add cubed squash to the pan and around the chicken.
9. Bake at 400 for about 15-18 minutes. You may or may not have enough room to add the asparagus later. If not, go ahead and line a smaller baking pan with foil and spray with oil.
10. If there is room on your single pan, add asparagus and cook for another 10 minutes.
11. Lastly, turn on the broiler for 3-5 minutes to give your chicken a nice, golden color.